Extraits

CHAPTER 1

At the far corner of my rookery, I tiptoed over the trip wires, careful not to trigger the traps. When I reached the door, I stared out a grubby hospital window at Whitechapel High Street. A few rays of coral sunlight pierced the bruise-colored clouds, glinting off the broken glass that littered the streets.

My breath fogged the window, and I cleared the cold glass with my palm. I focused on the unexpected beauty of the sunset-tinged glass, and stories began to whirl in my mind—stories of glamour and luxury from before the Great Nightmare had begun.

How long had it been now? At least a year and a half since dragon shifters had destroyed the world, since they’d taken my sister. A year and a half since they’d plunged the remains of humanity into despair. We had to hold on to beauty where we could find it. And we had to keep it alive with stories of the old days.

In London’s rookeries, carved from charred buildings, we huddled around fires at night, cloaked in the smoke of roasting rabbits and rats. During the day, we shared stories of life before the slaughter began—before the dragons had incinerated half the city. Before anyone believed angels would walk the Earth once again.

I shuddered, still working up the nerve to leave the rookery—the hive of homes that survivors had made in the old hospital. It was safe in here. We’d lined the perimeter with booby traps, protected the meager stores of canned food we’d looted from the Sainsbury’s. We were hidden from hounds, angels, dragon shifters… anything that might want to kill us.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay here all the time.

Slightly dazed from hunger, I pressed my hand against the glass, staring out at the street. “Hazel,” I whispered my sister’s name, and a sharp pang tightened in my chest. “Where are you?”

Footsteps sounded behind me, ripping me away from my thoughts. I turned to see my friend Alex gingerly stepping over a trip wire in the dingy hospital lobby. “Ruby, darling. A penny for your thoughts.”

Just thinking about Hazel, as usual. I smiled. “Thinking about all the delicious food we’re going to eat,” I lied.